France’s armed forces chief resigned on Wednesday in a dispute with Emmanuel Macron over defense budget cuts, an early test of the newly elected president’s mettle and the tough presidential style he is cultivating. In a statement, 60 year-old Pierre de Villiers said he had tried to keep the armed …
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French President Emmanuel Macron said his defense chief has no choice but to agree with what he says, a weekly newspaper reported on Sunday, after his top general criticized spending cuts to this year’s budget. “If something opposes the military chief of staff and the president, the military chief of …
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France wasted no time in rebuilding its economic ties with Iran since international sanctions were lifted as part of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. In early 2016 — just after the sanctions began to roll back — France made deals with Iran to sell Airbus commercial jets, return carmaker Peugeot …
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African powers launched a new multinational military force to tackle Islamist militants in the Sahel on Sunday, which French President Emmanuel Macron told a regional summit should be fully operational by the autumn despite its current budget shortfall. Some observers see the initiative of the G5 Sahel bloc – Mali, …
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Eight people have been injured in a shooting outside a mosque in southern France, officials have confirmed. Worshippers leaving the Arrahma mosque in Avignon were approached by two hooded suspects at about 22:30 local time (21:30 GMT) on Sunday. The suspects, carrying a handgun and a shotgun, arrived in a …
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Brexit Secretary David Davis arrived in Brussels on Monday to launch talks he hoped would produce a “new, deep and special partnership” with the EU in the interest of Britons and all Europeans. Beaming as he met the European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier at the EU executive’s Berlaymont headquarters, …
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BY GUY FAULCONBRIDGE AND KATE HOLTON for REUTERS — Britain voted to leave the European Union, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and dealing the biggest blow to the European project of greater unity since World War Two. Global financial markets plunged on Friday as results from a …
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THE LEVANT NEWS — by Graham E. Fuller– ISIS, with its horrific attack on purely civilian targets in Paris, has established new realities about its nature, capabilities and intentions. The need for its elimination can now no longer be in doubt. It is not that Parisian lives are more important …
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By Sharmine Narwani* for RT– There is media confusion about what is going on in Yemen and the broader Middle East. Pundits are pointing out that the US is looking schizophrenic with policies that back opposite sides of the fight against al-Qaeda-style extremism in Iraq and in Yemen. But it …
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France’s government provoked outrage on Saturday by becoming the first in the world to ban protests against Israeli action in Palestine. In what is viewed as an outrageous attack on democracy, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said mass demonstrations planned for the weekend should be halted. Mr Cazeneuve said there …
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THE LEVANT NEWS Journal of Beirut Center For Middle East Studies